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Ch.20 - Radioactivity and Nuclear Chemistry
Chapter 20, Problem 85

When a positron and an electron annihilate one another, the resulting mass is completely converted to energy. Calculate the energy associated with this process in kJ/mol.

Verified step by step guidance
1
Identify the particles involved: a positron and an electron, each with a mass of approximately 9.109 x 10^{-31} kg.
Use Einstein's mass-energy equivalence formula, E=mc^2, to calculate the energy released when one electron and one positron annihilate. Here, m is the combined mass of the electron and positron, and c is the speed of light (approximately 3.00 x 10^8 m/s).
Calculate the energy for one pair of electron and positron in joules.
Convert the energy from joules to kilojoules by dividing by 1000.
To find the energy per mole, multiply the energy per pair by Avogadro's number (6.022 x 10^{23} mol^{-1}).